Following the State election, and the resignation of former Labor leader Bec White, the Tasmanian Labor Party decided to conduct a ballot to decide the next Leader of the Opposition.  As an affiliated union, the RTBU gets to have a say in this process, as do all RTBU members who are also members of the Labor Party. 

We believe that it is important that the next Labor Leader understands the needs of Tasmanian rail and public transport workers.

That’s why we wrote an open letter to the two leadership candidates (David O’Byrne and Shane Broad), inviting them to meet with us to discuss their plans for:

1)    Better engaging union members in policy development, and

2)    Ending the damaging factional games that undermined Labor’s 2021 state election campaign.

 I am very pleased to say that both David and Shane responded to our invitation and met with members of the RTBU Tasmanian Executive on Thursday 27 May.

We had a frank but overwhelmingly positive conversation with each of the leadership candidates, and I’m sure that either of them would do a great job as leader.

Shane Broad also provided us with a written response to our letter, which we have posted here.

Our Union looks forward to a constructive relationship with both David and Shane and the entire Labor team in the future.

Ric Bean

TASMANIAN BRANCH SECRETARY